Pride of Pinecrest – 2012 Relay for Life

Personal trainer Robert Taylor

Before hiring former body builder Robert Taylor as a personal trainer, retired Miami- Dade Homicide detective Wesley Dallas was badly out of shape. Now, he’s strong, lean and feeling a whole lot better.

“I went from being an out of control diabetic with high blood pressure to now, where everything is fine,” Dallas says.

Dallas goes to Taylor’s Pinecrest home three times a week to work out.

“I’m not just a personal trainer,” Taylor says. “I’m a life coach.”

Taylor’s clients don’t just learn how to lift weights, they also learn about their bodies and what makes their body function better. Clients not only get homework from Taylor, they are also tested on their knowledge. He says when he’s finished, his clients will have just as much knowledge as a personal trainer or more.

“What always comes first is safety,” Taylor says. “This is what I teach all the young men and women that I train.” In fact, before he begins training anyone he requires them to get a physical examination.

“I have a medical form I give everyone,” he says.

Then he works out a program for them to follow two to three times a week.

Taylor educates his clients on the danger of drugs, particularly steroids. When he competed in body building contests, he was known for his strong stance against performance enhancing drugs. He won several competitions, including the 1978 American Natural Physique Championship.

Taylor likes helping teens get into shape for sports or just to feel good about themselves. He also trains older clients and has a different workout regimen for that group.

“I go for balance and stamina,” he says. “I teach them how to sit, how to stand, how to walk. Once they accomplish that, then the training starts.”

Why teach seniors how to walk? He says that many seniors take short steps and their arms and legs aren’t in synch.

“This is one of the most important moves for seniors,” Taylor says. “With young people, their main objective is to get big and strong and learn techniques in strength and power.”

He also teaches the benefit of skipping. “Skipping is one of the most important exercises to do,” Taylor says. “It’s fun. It brings back childhood. You are also working your entire body.”

Taylor has been into exercise and strength training since he was 14, so he has seen exercise trends come and go.

“Everything comes back to weight training,” he says. “Remember, people used to say weight training was bad for sports. I was doing it for the fun of it and it made me better in football and track.”

Taylor went from high school to the Air Force. A lot of the military personal would spend their off time sitting around and drinking, but he didn’t want to do that, so he continued his weight training and worked his way into bodybuilding competitions. He was proud to show that someone could become a championship bodybuilder through hard work alone, that steroids were not needed.

“I tell young women and men that if you want something in life, you have to work very hard for it, you have to have good homework skills,” Taylor says.

Taylor began training people in 1972, long before personal trainers became the norm. Today, he has his clients work out at the outdoor studio he built at his home.

For more information, call 305-431-6849.


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